lIt’ll be great miracle if we pull through 2019 elections— KukahCATHOLIC Archbishop Emeritus of Lagos, Anthony Cardinal Okogie, said, yesterday, that the recent call by former Defence Minister, Lt. General Theophilus Danjuma (retd), for self-defence should normally cause apprehensions in the Presidency, since its legitimacy was in doubt.

Cardinal Okogie

In his latest letter to the nation, entitled “We are waiting and watching 2,” Okogie said the politician, rather than herdsmen, kidnappers and armed robbers, were the real threat to the nation’s security.

His letter came at a time Rev. Fr. Matthew Kukah, Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, said it would be the greatest miracle for Nigeria to pull through the 2019 elections successfully, since nothing concrete had been done to increase the sense of national cohesion among Nigerians.

Okogie said rather worry about several informed admonitions, including that of Bill Gates, who counselled to invest resources on the people of Nigeria, government’s apologists, as usual, opted to insult the messenger, insisting that the nation’s “political leaders constitute the greatest threat to security in this country, not armed robbers nor kidnappers, not Boko Haram nor herdsmen.”

He contended that Nigerians have found it difficult to differentiate current accusations and counter-accusations of looting between the accuser and the accused, noting that huge sums of money belonging to the people of Nigeria obviously got into wrong hands and for wrong reasons.

In the 12-paragraph letter, which is a follow-up to his last, with the same title, the cleric said: “Whoever loves Nigeria should be concerned about the security of life and property within her borders.

“It affects all of us across party, ethnic and religious lines. It affects the rich and the poor. Unfortunately, it can, and it ought to be said that our political leaders constitute the greatest threat to security in this country, not armed robbers nor kidnappers, not Boko Haram nor herdsmen.

“Nigerians are currently forced to watch a show of shame by the ruling party of today and the ruling party of yesterday. Such are accusations and counter-accusations of looting that Nigerians find it difficult to differentiate between the accuser and the accused.

“Huge sums of money belonging to the people of Nigeria obviously got into wrong hands and for wrong reasons. There are good reasons to suspect that the looting that took place cut across party lines.

“Nigerians deserve to know how, for example, the two leading parties financed their campaigns in 2015. But instead of honest answers, we are treated by the two big parties to a theatrical display of politically motivated compilation of lists of looters.

“Nigerians deserve to know how, for example, the two leading parties financed their campaigns in 2015. But instead of honest answers, we are treated by the two big parties to a theatrical display of politically motivated compilation of lists of looters.

‘’We are forced to say what Jesus said to the accusers of the adulterous woman in the Gospel: whoever has not sinned let him cast the first stone.”

It’ll be great miracle if we pull through 2019 elections — Kukah

Meanwhile, Rev Fr. Matthew Kukah has said it will be “one of the greatest miracles” if Nigeria pulls through the 2019 elections successfully.

Kukah, who stated this in an interview published in the April edition of The Africa Report magazine, said: “It will be one of the greatest miracles if we pull through the election successfully.

“I do not see how we are going to conduct these elections if nothing urgent is done to increase a sense of national cohesion.”

He said there was heightened tension in virtually all states in the country, which would make it difficult to have a peaceful election.

Kukah said: “It would be difficult to find out single state where you do not have tension that could boil over. If you multiply this by the number of states in Nigeria and the little sense of urgency, it would be difficult to talk about 2019 without a sense of foreboding.

“I have never felt this way. I prayerfully hope the government will wake up to appreciating how bitter people feel.”

He said Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, must do an “extraordinary work” to convince Nigerians of its readiness to be neutral during the general election.